The following examples furnish some curious illustrations of the orderless condition of English orthography. The test of a correct representation of sounds would be, that all letters, in whatever arrangement, and however transposed, should retain their fixed individual sounds: as in the case of the word end; the letters of which may be transposed to ned or den, while each retains its own unaltered power. As a man's character is best known by the company he keeps, so the alphabetic characters are only to be sounded with certainty when we know the literal society in which they are found. Thus; transpose the vowels in chase, and, not unnaturally, the chase results in aches. The largest moat may be literally proved to be but an atom.-By mere disjunction of letters that which was nowhere is now here.- Wo to him who shall take a t from two, even as to him who shall dare to separate man from woman.— Though you remove the t from there, yet here it remains. Put c before hanged-and lo! how it is changed!-Of all the letters in the alphabet e is of most use to us;-though b and y certainly make us busy. You cannot join f to of, but it will instantly be off-S may well be called a "sharp" letter, when it can convert a word into a sword.-Though you take the first and last letters from know yet it is now, no.-" Dust we are," and even the heart resolves itself into earth.-We can take c from cease with ease; but w cannot be removed from wart without art; and he who would take v from vague will have an ague.-Take g from gown -it loses nothing of its own; add g to one, and, lo! it is gone.— Prefix e to we it becomes ewe; unite thy and me they produce thyme. Add one f to our-the product is four.-Take off the w from won-it remains on; put it before hat-it is what? try it before here-it is where! Transpose the letters in node and bring s to aid :-no sooner said than done.-The three letters in own may be arranged into won; repeat the transposition, and own them now, not won. R makes a salver out of salve, transforms a cow into a crow, and lengthens eve into ever. E changes the pronoun ye into an eye, and the preposition to into a toe, and makes on also become one. C charms away all harms, and its absence will hough a chough. Give a B to an owl-it will become a bowl; keep it from Tom, or it will send him to the tomb. Take s from shoes they become hoes; if you ask how, s will promptly show it. By taking t, he who forges, immediately forgets. Y converts a The colon into a colony, and makes what is ours become yours. change of p into ƒ puts puss in a fuss. Write an ƒ and you will have fever for ever! These examples might be increased to any extent, but they are sufficient to show how little of rule there can be, founded on letters, to guide the foreigner or the youthful learner to the correct utterance of our written words. In further illustration of the incongruities of our letters, and the inconsistent way in which they represent our sounds, we have compiled the following Tables, which show, in separate arrangements, the sounds of our vowel and articulation marks, and the marks of our vowel and articulate sounds. SOUNDS OF THE VOWEL MARKS. The figures refer to the English Vowel Scheme, page 31. Y and W among the figures are Articulations. A has the sound of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, as in 0 " 7 8 10 all, swǎn. eve, England, ere, clerk, err, righteous, (yus.) 4 {ever, I 1, 2, 7-1, 8, Y, as in pique, ill, isle, bird, million, (yun.) 2, 7-13, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, as in U" 2, 4, 9, 13, Y13, W, as in busy, bury, {bum, {ule, use, persuade. bŭd, Y 2, 7-1, 8, Y, as in hymn, by, myrrh, ye. 1, 3-1, 3-4, 4, as in aĕrie, aē'rial, Israel, aer, Michaelmas. 3, 3-2, 3-4, as in aye, gayety, gayest. 1, 1-3, 1-5, 1-6, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, as in 1 1-3 1-5 1-6 2 3 each, create, react, area, guineas, great, 1 1-4 2 1, 1-4, 2, as in bee, re-enter, breeches. 1 4 1, 4, as in e'en, ne'er. 1 1-2 wear, heart, earl. 1, 1-2, 2, 3, 4, 7-1, as in ceil, reimburse, forfeit, veil, Sheir, height. people, theology, creole, leopard, dungeon, George, feod, (fyood.) EY 1, 2, 3, 4, 7-1, as in key, monkey, prey, eyre, eying. 2, 1-3, 1-5, 7-1-3, 7-1-5, as in parliament, mediate, trivial, hiatus, 10-1, 12, 12-1, 12-2, 13, as in oboe, doe, coeval poet, shoe. OI have the sound of 3, 9, 10-1, 12-2, 13-2, W7-1, W10, as in 00 3 9 10-1 12-2 13-2 7-1 W10 connoisseur, avoirdupoise, coin, stoic, doing, choir, memoir. " 9, 11, 12, 12-10, 12-12, 13, as in book 12 7-13, 9, 10, 12, as in now, bellows, knowledge, know. query, guess, quell, guerdon, cuerpo, rue, cruel cue, duel. 1 W1 2 W2 7-1 W7-1 W8 13 13.2 Y13 mosquito, suite, build, quill, guide, quire, squirt, fruit, fruition, suit, Y13, as in view. Y13, as in viewed. 9, as in cautious. 13, as in manœuvre. E is silent in hidden, fasten, soften, &c., and generally when final. 1 is represented by e, i, æ, ac, ee, e'e, ea, ei, eo, ey, eye, ie, uoi; as in eve, fatigue, minutiæ, aerie, bee, e'en, eat, conceive, people, key, keyed, field, turquoise. a, e, i, o, u, y, ai, ay, ea, ee, ei, ey, ia, ie, ui, uy; as in cabbage, pretty, ill, women, busy, hymn, mountain, Monday, guineas, breeches, forfeit, monkey, parliament, sieve, build, plaguy. a, ai, ao, au, ay, aye, ea, ei, ey, eye, oi; as in age, aim, gaol, gauge, pay, aye, steak, vein, obey, preyed, connoisseur. a, e, u, aa, ae, ai, ay, ea, e'e, ei, eo, ey, ie, ue; as in {fare, Jēre, bury, Aaron, măny, ever, (wear, ne'er, heir, leopard, eyre, friend, guess. heifer, a, aa, ai; as in amber, Canaan, raillery. a; as in ask. a, e, au, ea, ua; as in ardour, clerk, haunt, hearty, guardian. e(r), i(r), y(r), ea(r), ue(r), we(r); as in her, firmness, hyrst, earnest, guerdon, answer. o, u, eo, io, oa, oi, oo, ou, ow, wo, iou, olo; as in (world furnace, dungeon, motion, cupboard, avoirdupoise, blood, done, ugly, journey, bellows, twopence, cautious, colonel. young. 10 a, o, ao, au, aw, awe, eo, oa, ou, ow, as in Ställ Jōrder, extraordinary Staught, awful, awe, George want Loften Sabroad Sthought groat hough, knowledge. lăudanum o, ew, oa, oo, ou, wo, owa, orps, as in ore, sewer, oar, door, four, sword, towards, corps. |